A Boogie Man never dies
by BloodyBess
Summary: What happens when a monster from Halloween Town dies?What has become of Oogie Boogie after The Pumpkin King defeated him?Do you really think a Boogie Man can die?
1. Default chapter

**HALLOWEEN TOWN**

"Now" the old Hanging Three said as the corpse children stopped chatting and sat down quietly near his roots, ready for the tale of the Friday "what do you want me to tell? The laments of the Hanged Men? Or maybe the Tales of the Scarecrows?"

"Nothing of this" the mummy child spoke up for everyone "we were just wondering...what happens when a monster of Halloween Town dies?"

"Uhmm..." the Hanging Tree tought for a moment "why do you want to know that?"

"Well" the vampire child said "next week will be eight years since The Pumpkin King defeated the Boogie Man, and we were wondering what may has become of him."

"Yeah!" another child exclaimed "what happens when a monster dies?"

The children looked towards the old tree, who gave a deep sigh. "Well, no one knows exactly what happens when a monster dies...if he really _does_ die. Somebody once told me that a monster doesn't die, but he does come back again in another form...most likely as humans."

"You mean...like reincarnation?" the mummy kid asked, fascinated.

"Dah, that cannot be true" a corpse kid said "if they come back to life once again, why no one ever gets to tell the others what happens?"

"Oh, well" the Hanging Tree said dreamily "some says they doesn't come back because they cannot remember anything about their past. The still have some kind of similarity to their old selves...but that's all, children."

"You mean they cannot remember they were monsters?"

"Indeed."

"But thy have no way to regain their memories?" a little vampire girl asked.

"I honestly don't know, little one. That's a mistery."

"Whoa!" a corpse kid laughed "can you picture the Oogie Boogie Man as a eight years old human child?"

All the children laughed at the thought. No one though, not even for a moment, that the legend the Hanging Tree had told them could be true.

* * *

I almost forgot the disclaimer...I'm writing this just for fun, and I don't own Nightmare Before Christmas (those disclaimer are really getting boring...) 


	2. Just another day

**Somewhere in the human world**

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we –"

"Hugh Badger, if you don't stop teasing me in this very moment I'm going to trow you out of the window!"

The boy grinned, resting his head on the headrest. "Out of the window? Hey, it wouldn't be _that_ bad" he said, playing with a deck of cards "better than school" he added grimly.

The woman sighed. "Hughie..."

"No more 'Hughie', mom!" the bot protested "I'm a big boy now!"

"A big boy acting like a three years old child" she sighed "listen, Hugh, I would really appreciate you trying to get along with your schoolmates..."

"They're boring" Hugh pouted, finally turning his glance away from the cards "I don't like boring people. And I don't like boring places like this town. What about asking your Company to move ya in Las Vegas next time? That'd be fun!"

"Hugh" she said "I know you miss your old school..."

"But, mom, I _don't_ miss my old school. I hated that place" he reminded her "I miss it as much as the toothache. Well, I must admit I had some fun back there...do ya remember when I put a spider on the teacher's hair?"

She let out a groan. "I do."

"C'mon, there was no reason to take it _that_ bad! I mean, I was just joking. Just having fun. What's the big deal?"

"You do really think putting bugs on other people is _fun_?"

"Uhm...yeah."

The woman sighed. "I give up" she said, turning her attention back to the traffic as the car passed a crossroad.

The boy shrugged and turned his glance away from the her, shuffling his cards once again. He was about eight years old, not very tall, wearing a dark oversized jacket with a hood. The jacket's sleeves were too long for his arms, and he always had to roll them over to freely use his hands. He had light brown hair, with a wisp of hair falling over his forhead, just between his black eyes.

"Mom?" he asked after a few minutes, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"Pick a card. Any card."

"Hugh, can't you see I'm driving?" she said sharply.

The boy shrugged and drew the top card himself, yawning. "You're not fun, ya know..." he muttered mostly to himself, then: "Mom?"

The woman let out a groan. "What's up now?"

"I'm hungry."

"You've just had breakfast, Hugh!"

"So what? I'm still hungy. I cannot just stop being hun...WHOA!"

He was slumped forwards as almost the car suddenly stopped in front of his school. "Hey, I almost split my head on the dashboard!" he whined.

"Here you go, boy" his mother said sternly "now you're going to go to school and act like any normal kid. Got it?"

"But I'm not a normal..." he began, then he stopped as he noticed his mother's expression "I'll do my best anyway" he added quickly.

"Good" his mother said slamming the door shut.

"_Act like any normal kid, Hughie_" he muttered to himself, imitating his mother's voice as he began to walk towards school "_you need some friends, Hughie...you cannot play with those dices the whole day, Hughie...trowing bugs at people to scare them is not funny, Hughie..._bah, she's so boring. Boring, boring, boring!"

A few kids looked at him as he walked into the class and sat down at his desk, a little apart from the others.

"Look, it's the newbie. The one who took the Tarantula Spider in the lab with his bare hands last Friday."

"Yeah, it's him. He says he likes bugs. I've heard he's got a hudge collection of 'em."

"Bleah!"

"Look, he's muttering to himself again."

"I told ya he's a freak...always playing with his cards or dices, and barely talking to anyone."

"And have you already seen him eat?"

"Eeew, please! I can't believe he can eat that stuff..."

"Ya mean the stuff the school's cook plays off as food?"

"Yeah. And he eats _tons_ of it. It's just disgusting."

"Bleah! I'd eat rubbish rather than that..."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he eats rubbish too, ya know..."

"He's so...so _strange_" a girl muttered aloud.

Hugh smiled to himself, keeping shuffling his cards as somebody sat on the chair next to him.

"Hello there, Weirdo."

Hugh raised his eyes to the freckled little girl named Raven sitting beside him. "Hello, Freckle" he grinned, then he extended his hand "pick one card."

_Three hours later._

Hugh yawned, looking at his watch. Thankfully, it was almost lunch time: he was beginning to feel ill with hunger. He toyed absently with his dices as the teacher went on with her speech. Man, she hadn't stopped babbling since nine! Scool was definitely the dumbest thing in that utterly dumb world. He looked at Raven: she seemed as bored as he was.

A barely audible wirring noise came from his bag. He grinned to himself thinking about the cockroaches he was keeping in the can inside his bag. That pain in the butt af Timothy Franklin was going to find a little surprise inside his locket, that afternoon. Next time he would have tought twice before stealing his things.

Reverenge was sweet. Almost sweeter than his mother's apple pie.

His stomach grumbled at the thought. It would've better for him stop thinking about that pie before ending up to drooling over the desk.

* * *

"Hey, kid!" a older student about thirtheen, one Steve Warden, patted rougly on his shoulder "that's _my_ table!" 

"Uh?" Hugh swallowed his bite and looked up at him "sorry, pal...I cannot see your name anywhere."

"Yeah, very funny" the other boy barked "now get up from my chair."

Hugh began to laugh, causing steve to blink. No one had ever laughed on his face before. Never.

"What's so funny, ya little bugger?" he asked menacingly.

"Oh well" Hugh chuckled again "I was just wonder how stupid ya can be to think I would stand up from this very comfortable chair just to give it to ya."

The boy's eyes narrowed threateningly. "You're calling me stupid?"

"Wow, ya can actually understand spoken languge then...I may begin to considerate your Q.I. as high as a snail's..."

"ENOUGH!" the boy snapped. There was a sound of ripping fabric as he grabbed Hugh from the collar of his shirt "ya're gonna pay for this..."

"What's happening here?" the teacher's voice exclaimed. Steve let him go immediatly, then he turned to the teacher.

"It's nothing, sir" he said politely "I was just leaving."

The boy sat at another table, then he looked towards Hugh and grinned, making rather obvious throat slitting motions.

"See ya later, snotty."

"I guess he's gonna beat ya down after school" Raven said quietly from behind him.

"Yeah" Hugh shrugged, turning his attention back to his meal. He was not afraid, not even a bit. Fear was something he had never felt in his life.

"And I guess you'll get your reverenge very soon" she added with a grin.

Hugh just grinned back. "Indeed."

"I don't know if you'll be able to scare him, Weirdo. Some students say he's fearless."

"Wanna bet?"

**Halloween Town**

"I tell you I did see something!" the teenage witch exclaimed, pointing at her crystal ball "I saw it just for a moment, but it was there! I'm sure it was!"

"Oh, please" the young demon answered "you've never seen anything in you crystal ball, Shock. You're just not capable to use it, deal with it!"

"But this time I did!"

"Suuure" the boy in the skeleton costume grinned "then tell us, what did you see?"

"A human boy" the girl exclaimed "and than a bunch of bugs, and..."

"Bugs?" Lock and Barel looked at the each other.

"Yeah! Bugs, and a pair of dices, a full moon and...a three? Yeah, there were some threes too..."

"Bugs, dices..." Lock said "are ya thinking the same thing?"

"Yeah, of course!" Barrel exclaimed "er...what are ya thinking exactly?"

"The Boogie Man!" Shock and Lock exclaimed simultaneously.

**Human world (again!)**

Steve released his grip on Hugh's shirt, letting him fallig on the ground, blood running down his face. "Next time you'll think twice before boyhering me, snotty" he laughed as he disappeared behind the corner. Hugh slowly got on his knees and wiped away some blood with his sleeve. He took his dices from his pocket and rolled them on the floor.

Six and five.

He grinned.

Eleven. His lucky number.

_/Looks like I won the jackpot./_

He began to laugh, his laughter echoing through the school's now desert halls.

_You're done!_

_You're doomed!_

_You're gonna pay for this!_

_You have no way,_

_No chance to escape,_

_Prepare to face your fate!_

_Be ready!_

_Be scared!_

_You don't know who am I_

_I pity you_

_You have no idea_

_Of what I'm gonna do!_


	3. Not just another night

Author's note: a hudgeTHANKS to Sydney Daimao for helping me in editing this fanfic...I'll never thank you enough!

**

* * *

****Human world**

"OW!" Hugh made a face as he applied a band-aid over a cut on his cheekbone. Damn, that _hurt. _He rubbed his bruised forhead before putting on another shirt. The one he had worn that morning was ripped badly. And that was his _favourite_ shirt, moreover. That bully was going to pay for this.

Hugh went in the kitchen – his favourite room beside his own – and glanced once again at the note his mother had pinned on the fridge.

I work late tonight. There's some chicken in the fridge. Go to bed at nine. NO SCARY MOVIES AND NO SNACKS.

"Go to bed at nine," he muttered sarcastically. "No scary movies, no snacks...yeah, right. Wanna forbid me to breath while you're at it?"

He was definitely not going to obey, especially the Go-to-bed-at-nine part. No, he would have gone to sleep _much _later that night...after he had given that unworthy bully the lesson he deserved. He lived not very far from his own house, near the woods. Reaching his home would've taken just five minutes with his bike. He grinned to himself, in expectation of his revenge. He had just to wait until he was deep in his sleep and then...

The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He sighed and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Hugh."

The familiar voice caused his grin to fade. Oh, no. Not _him_.

"Hi, dad..."

"So, tell me," his father said, trying without much success to sound cheerful "how are you doing?"

"Fine," Hugh replied.

"Oh, well, hmmm...what about school?"

"I guess it's ok."

"Very well, then..." he didn't know what else to say. Hugh stayed silent: he wasn't going to help him. "What about your mother?" his father finally said.

Hugh rolled his eyes. _And why should you care? _"Fine" he said blankly "I have to go, I've got a lot of homework. Bye."

"Hugh, wait..."

Hugh hung down the phone with an angry growl. There was nothing could ruin his good mood like a call from his father. Why did he still bother to call him, anyway? He already had a family, his _perfect_ family. Hugh was just an accident. Having a son out of wedlock wasn't part of his father's schemes. They had nothing to say to the each other. Their conversations sounded fake and unnatural, and their relationship could be called strained at best.

_He didn't even give me his surname. Well, I couldn't care less anyway. I hate him. No, I don't. He's not even worthy of my hatred. He's just pathetic. _

The boy shook his head angrily and moved to the fridge. _Food. Now._

_A pepperoni pizza, two hamburgers and a popcorn bucket later._

"Much better."

Hugh patted his stomach and looked at his watch. It was almost time to go. He got up and put his black jacket on. He left the kitchen, and then put on a green scarf. It was a week to Christmas, and it was very cold outside. Hugh made a face at the thought of Christmas; it was the holiday he disliked the most, sappy as it was. It made him feel sick in his stomach. _Christmas, _he thought to himself, _so jolly, so sappy, so...bleach!_

He went in his room and took something from under his bed, a shoebox with some small holes. He grinned as a rustling noise came from inside the box. He rolled up his sleeves and opened it and stroked the snake's cold skin with a finger.

"Hello, old boy" he said softly as the reptile hissed and settled down "I have some work to do tonight, and you're going to help me."

Hugh took his dice from his pocket and rolled them on the floor. _Snake eyes._

Hugh laughed to himself: it couldn't have been more suitable. He was definitely going to have a lot of fun that night.

* * *

Hugh parked the bike behind a thick stand of bushes at the edge of the woods. Steve Warden's home was about 100 meters from him. He approached silently, holding the shoebox against his chest, the full moon watching him from the night sky; like a silent witness. The house was quiet, with no light on. They were all sleeping. Good. 

Hugh knelt in front of the gutter pipe and opened the box. The snake crawled on the dried grass and looked up at him, as if he was expecting instructions.

"Climb up from the gutter," Hugh whispered to the creature, his voice much similar to a hiss itself. "Get into the house. There's a boy in there; tall, with blonde hair, and no brain –well, scratch away the last one. I want you to get him, no one else. I want you to scare him; wrap yourself around his neck; let him feel the strength of your coils. I want him feel the chill of your skin against his," he chuckled, "Then bite as deeply as you can. I know your poison cannot kill him – a pity, if you ask to me – but it will be strong enough to make him spend his Christmas in the hospital. Got it?"

The snake looked at him with his cold eyes for a moment, then it seemed to nod. The creature disappeared up for the gutter pipe. The boy ran to hide behind a few bushes: he didn't was to be noticed, but he didn't want to miss the show either.

He waited for almost twenty minutes, and nothing happened. He pulled the hood over is head, trying to protect himself from the icy wind of December. He knew his pet wouldn't fail him; he had a special gift in dealing with crawling creatures. He just had to wait.

"AAAHHHHHHH!" a frightening scream came from inside the house.

_Jackpot!_

"MOM! DAD! A SNAKE! OH, GOD, HELP ME, IT BIT ME!" Steve Warden was screaming at the top of his lungs, and his voice sounded like a little girl's voice.

_Who's the snotty now?_

Hugh began to laugh crazily as he ran away from the bushes and towards the place he had left his bike. Though he would love to stay there a little longer, he knew he couldn't take the risk of getting caught. He was still laughing as he reached his bike at the edge of the woods. Oh, damn, that had been fun!

The icy wind rushed over him again, this time even colder, causing his laughter to stop. He arched his brow, listening. Had he really heard something...a voice? Nah, that couldn't be...could it?

"Who's there?" he called towards the woods. A faint whisper came to his ears as another blow of wind rushed over him, causing him to shiver.

_I am the "Who" when you call, "Who's there?"_

_I am the wind blowing through your hair..._

He blinked. No, this time it wasn't just his imagination, he had really heard something.

"Who's there?" he repeated.

Nothing.

"Very well" he said aloud as he walked into the woods "I do like playing hide and seek, and I'm not leaving before I've found out who you are!"

The wind carried him no answer. It was like it was waiting. _Waiting? Waiting for what?_ –hethought to himself, as he went deeper into the woods – _An answer? Nah, that's ridiculous! What kind of answer could I..._

His thoughts were trailed off as another voice whispered something, but this time it was different, as if the voice was coming from inside his head.

_I am the shadow on the moon at nigh,_

_Filling your dreams to the brim with fright..._

"What the hell...?" Hugh shook his head as the voice inside his head faded. "There's something very wrong here," he said to no one, as he went on walking among the trees. Wow, he was hearing voices like Joan of Arc, and he knew how she ended up. The thing that troubled him the most was that that second voice, the one he had heard coming from his own mind...well, it sounded familiar, as if he had already heard it somewhere. But he couldn't remember _where_ and _how_.

"OW!" he exclaimed as he stumbled over a root and plopped on the ground. "Damn!" he cursed under his breath as he stood up, keeping hold of one of the trees lower branches. His right ankle was hurting like hell. He hissed in pain and sat on the ground. Wow, great. Just great. He was in the middle of the woods, way too far from his home, and his ankle was now dislocated, or worse, which prevented him even from walking over to his bike, let alone riding it. "Great job, Hughie..." he grumbled. "That's what you get when you follow voices in the middle of…hey, what's this?"

He arched his brows as he noticed there was something drawn on the tree's shaft. "A pumpkin?" he mumbled as he reached for it. He noticed there was something bulging from the bark. He got up, paying attention to not rest his right foot upon the ground, and examinated it. It looked like a...a_ knob._

He snortered, "A knob? On a tree? Oh, c'mon, that's ridiculous!" But he couldn't help to turn it down.

Much to his surprese, the pumpkin's drawn oponed like a door. "Wow..." he breathed, for once speechless.

Hugh looked behind the door, fascinated; he could only see darkness. "What the hell is this supposed to...WOAH!"

He felt like something had grabbed him as he got sucked inside the tree. Everything happened very fast: he felt himself falling just for a second, then he hit solid ground with a thud. He felt a sharp pain to his left shoulder, where he had hit the ground...and nothing more.


End file.
